O'Charley's makes huge donation to Region 8 fund

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) - A local restaurant is putting more Region 8 residents in school.

O'Charley's in Jonesboro gave $39,300 donation to the Craighead County Single Parent Scholarship Fund.

Barbara Doyle, Chair of the Craighead County Single Parent Scholarship Fund, says this organization has been hard at work in Region 8 for some time, now.

"This is an organization that is interested in helping single parents in Craighead County to fulfill their dreams of getting a degree in higher education. We want to impact not only their lives, but the lives of their children as well."

Amy Andis-Hogue is in her senior year at ASU as a Psychology major.

She is the mother of two and says without the generosity of establishments like O'Charley's she couldn't go to school, "It helps so much. With me, I have trouble just affording gas to get back and forth to school for me and my kids. And, you know, just the little things that they need you can more easily provide for them."

Barbara says without the generosity of establishments like O'Charley's, they couldn't help all the people they do.

"Our fund could not exist without the generosity of our donors. It's when we all contribute whatever amount we can, however big or small. It's when everyone gives out a helping hand to everybody, when can help these people reach their dreams."

Barbara says many people don't realize the day to day struggle single parents go through and the huge difference these scholarships make.

"The recipients of our scholarships come back to us all the time and tell us how sometimes that money was used to feed their family, so that they could stay in school and not get a job. Other people buy their books with them. It's a five hundred dollar scholarship, so it's not a large scholarship. But it makes a big difference in their lives when their struggling to make ends meet every month."

Manager of Field Marketing for O'Charley's, Jody Wylie, says they're proud to be able to help an organization like this one.

"You can see where the money's going, that it's a great program and just hearing how grateful they are for what opportunities are out there for them by people being involved in the community."

Amy says there are no words to express what a scholarship like this means to her and her family, "I can't do it justice. It means that much and it all adds up and it makes you feel not so alone. It makes you know that people care. I'm just overwhelmed because I'm so grateful for the opportunities that are given to me by receiving a scholarship like this."

The Craighead County Single Parent Scholarship Fund will be awarding twenty-two students scholarship.

Those recipients need only be residents of Craighead County, but can go to school where ever they wish.

Amy says she hopes that someday she can help others the way she has been helped during her school career, "Whenever I'm in a place where I can afford to, I hope to be able to repay the program. To be able to donate back to someone else for what I've been given and to be able to share the experience with others and hope it benefits them as much as it has been able to benefit me and my children."

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